60
Slam Dance is like junk food. It's brightly packaged, looks good and satisfies the hunger for entertainment, but it isn't terribly nourishing or well-made.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
63
Slamdance has an unusual problem: It's too creative. Director Wayne Wang throws in so many artsy shots and technical tricks that the drama, an intricate murder mystery, is muddled. After the lights come up, you're left wondering exactly what you witnessed. [6 Nov 1987, p.D7]
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Jay Scott
Stylistically, the sleek Slamdance, a beautiful yet ominous black lacquer box of a movie, is a U.S. approximation of Diva - every chic frame is aggressive and eye-catching. But it is also what Less Than Zero wanted to be, an expose of the emotional desert at the west end of the U.S. nation. [28 Dec 1987]
40
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Apart from a few incidental flickers of Wang’s sidelong humor, there’s little of his personality evident in this film about a divorced underground cartoonist (Tom Hulce) finding himself enmeshed in a murder plota story that steadily loses coherence and interest the longer it proceeds.
40
Los Angeles Times by Michael Wilmington
It would be tempting to say that inside “Slamdance” is a remarkable movie struggling to free itself from conventional trappings. But the opposite is true. The trappings are what dazzle you; the interior of “Slamdance” is exactly what isn’t remarkable.
63
Mastrantonio, though capable throughout, is never provided with the spark that might ignite her subtle fire. Hulce is firmly the center of events, but, like the dancing habits he displays in flashback, he bounces around this movie like an pinball out of control. [6 Nov 1987, p.48]
50
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
There are some nice things in "Slamdance." Hulce has a certain dogged charm as the hero who draws cartoons in the spirit, if not the style, of Gary Larson, and who is extremely upset that there is a dead body in his apartment. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio gives a sound, three-dimensional performance as the ex-wife who has to decide if this guy is worth the trust - and the trouble. And Harry Dean Stanton remains quintessentially himself.
30
The New York Times by Vincent Canby
Put them all together and you have complete confusion, a movie without any identity whatsoever.
60
A patchwork of a movie that ultimately knows where it's going, but doesn't really know how to get there.